*Prior to selecting electives, students are required to complete the first 4 Proseminar courses: SCG 527, 603, 604 and 608. In the Spring Term of their first year in addition to SCG 611, students are allowed to sign up for one elective course.

College of Education Electives (8 quarter hours)

Non-College of Education Electives (12 quarter hours)

Students have the option to pursue the Education Technology and Society concentration to complete 5 prescribed courses in lieu of the electives. Please see the separate concentration section for course information.

Thesis Course: 4 quarter hours, grade of C or better required

The student prepares a thesis, which is a report of the results of an original investigation. Before beginning work on the thesis, the student must obtain approval of the subject and general plan from their Thesis Advisor. The Thesis Advisor must be an EPSR faculty member (and not necessarily the originally assigned Faculty Advisor). Additional Thesis Committee members are optional based upon discussion between a student and his/her Thesis Advisor. It is advised that students select their thesis chair no later than the spring quarter of the second year. The College of Education Thesis Handbook outlines the policies and procedures needed to successfully satisfy the thesis requirement. The College of Education Thesis Handbook can be obtained from the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Research office or on the College of Education website.

Course Registration

Registration for SCFE Master’s degree core courses is different from regular registration. The SCFE students are granted access to registration for SCFE core courses. If a student has special circumstances and cannot register for all cores offered in a term, this must be discussed with and approved by that student’s SCFE faculty advisor prior to the start of the term. Course registration for electives is the same as for all College of Education students.

SCG 527

GLOBAL ISSUES IN EDUCATION

Studies of school systems outside the United States, their methods, curriculum and achievements.

Prerequisites:

Status as a Graduate Social & Cultural Foundations in Education student is a prerequisite for this class.

SCG 603

PROSEMINAR: CULTURE AND EDUCATION

This course focuses on the relationship between education, pedagogy, and theories of culture framed by a concern for social justice. Topics may include the pedagogical and political dimensions of popular culture, questions of knowledge production, the relationship between knowledge and power of the political economy of culture production.

Prerequisites:

Status as a Graduate Social & Cultural Foundations in Education student is a prerequisite for this class.

SCG 604

PROSEMINAR: IDENTITY CONSTRUCTIONS AND NEGOTIATIONS

This course examines identity construction in educational contexts. Drawing on theoretical frameworks in the sociology of education, postmodernist, feminist and critical theories of education, and cultural studies literature, this course will explore identity as complex and multifaceted. It explores relations of class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality and the implications of sociality for contemporary education.

Prerequisites:

Status as a Graduate Social & Cultural Foundations in Education student is a prerequisite for this class.

SCG 608

PROSEMINAR: IDEOLOGY, POWER AND POLITICS

This course examines how power operates pedagogically and how domination and resistance get shaped in education. It considers power relations in society and how these power relations enter into educational discourse and practice. It also explores ways in which power produces various educational practices and ways in which power gets psychically configured. Students will examine major theories of power, analyze race, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality as systems of power and consider the educational implications of such an analysis.

Prerequisites:

Status as a Graduate Social & Cultural Foundations in Education student is a prerequisite for this class.

SCG 611

PROSEMINAR: PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES IN EDUCATION, CULTURE AND ETHICS

Examines both traditional philosophical questions in education from such perspectives as Africana, feminist, Latino/Hispanic thought and distinctively Africana, feminist, and Latino/Hispanic issues in a philosophical way. Some of the perspectives are, for example, the necessary conditions of a humanistic education, the relation between theory and practice, the relationship between individual and institutional/society, the role of education in the struggle for social justice, the role of aesthetics in human development and projects of political emancipation, the dialectics of history and experience in the development of liberatory ideas, and the moral and ethical dimensions of education.

Prerequisites:

Status as a Graduate Social & Cultural Foundations in Education student is a prerequisite for this class.

SCG 610

INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS

(Special section of SCG 410, Introduction to Research: Purposes, Issues and Methodologies.) This course will examine the basic questions, issues and theoretical frameworks central to the purpose, conceptualization, conduct, writing, reading and the use of educational research as a means for informing educational theory, practice and policy. Students will be exposed to the multiple frameworks which inform educational research, the various methodoogies employed in collecting and analyzing data and will examine the advantages, limitations and values implict in conducting and evaluating research. Students will also begin exploring possible thesis topics as they begin defining their particular research purpose, methodology and issues.

Prerequisites:

Status as a Graduate Social & Cultural Foundations in Education student is a prerequisite for this class.

SCG 635

ADVANCED QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

This course extends the fundamental principles of educational research first introduced in SCG 610. It provides students with theoretical and practical preparation in conceptual issues in qualitative research and research design. Students will explore a variety of methodological approaches to interpretive inquiry in social science research, research design, methods of data collection, research ethics, and critical analysis. This course will prepare students to undertake the capstone master's thesis requirement.

SCG 636

THESIS RESEARCH

A student writing a thesis registers for this course for four quarter hours of credit. Where the thesis research and the writing of the thesis itself are prolonged beyond the usual time, the program advisor may require the student to register for additional credit. Completion of this course is required to receive the MA Degree in Social and Cultural Foundations in Education.